Hilarious Korea

And now for some news from Korea.....life has gotten quite a bit busier (in a good way) as I've gotten to know more and more people, places, and things to do. I've met around 10 other teachers which is pretty cool because it's tough to find them around here. Kinda funny, whenever I see non-koreans out and about my reaction is probably similar or even a little more exaggerated than that of the natives... "hey look, white people!"

Two of the people I met (and luckily probably the ones I get along with best) are actually in my same building and I hadn't even known it until I met them online through Jason, the recruiter that recruited both of us for jobs on Jeju. I've been out with my new white friends a few times lately. We all went to a small, dark sand beach on the eastern side of the island first, and the next day we went to an large, white sand beach on the west coast. The dark sand one was pretty, but the white sand beach was BEAUTIFUL! The color of the water was almost carribbean-like, and there was an island not far off the beach that really enhanced the scene. I'll try to get pictures up somewhere soon....

Also, we went out to the pier, which was my first time just due to the distance. Jeju is no small city. It has about 400,000 people and feels like more than that. Going end to end would probably take a half hour via bus. But anyways, we went out there and saw a lot of really neat things. On the way out there, they have giant stores and markets that sell fish, fish, and more fish. They smell terrible but look pretty cool. They have some big tanks outside with abalone, all kinds of fish, squid, snails, and other things. After you pass the fish markets, you come to the pier and there are lots and lots of boats near the sea wall. At night about half of them are out fishing for squid (which seem to be everywhere here). It looks really neat, though, because they all have reaaaally bright lights that I guess attract the squid, so the ocean is lit up by hundreds of lights. Along the sea wall are all kinds of stores, shops, and a big park that has a series of basketball courts (that I've taken advantage of several times already!), tennis courts, and odd mini tennis courts that are actually used to play a Korean game that is exactly like tennis but played with a soccer ball, no racquet, and no hands. My favorite part, though, (even though the brand new basketball courts are hard to beat), is an amusement park. It has several rides, arcade games, and food. Sounds pretty typical, but a Korean amusement park is a lot different. The food, obviously, is different, the people treat the park differently, and the rides are a bit behind on safety standards.

I probably laughed harder than I have laughed in a year when i saw this one ride where chubby little korean kids are bounced and tossed around on a spinning wheel. The man who operates the ride has complete control....he controls the music, how fast it spins, what he says on the microphone, and the best part.....the bouncing. The ride looks like one we'd have in the US where about 30 people can get on and spin in circles for like 2 minutes, feel dizzy, then get off. But this one is MUCH more entertaining. The ride spins while the oddest collections of music is played (from michael jackson to hardcore rap to soft Korean music) while the ride operator controls the "bouncing" of one side of the ride, sending kids flying out of their seats for around 15 minutes straight. Watching it is absolutely HILARIOUS, watching the kids bounce around, hair flying and arms flailing. Some of them wander out to the center (there were no seatbelts or anything, and despite the signs all over telling people not to get out of their seats, it didn't seem to matter....actually, it was probably unavoidable with the bouncing) and the ride operator teases them, changing the angle of the ride so they stumble across the center area, crashing into other kids, then go back again. I stood there watching for about 20 minutes before finally moving on.

Watching bumper cars was pretty funny too. The Koreans should really change the name of their bumper cars to "avoid-a-cars" or something like that because the goal seems not to crash into other people, but avoid them. Another funny thing there were these little camel/donkey things that you could stick 50 cents in and ride around at about half a mile per hour (seriously, they were SO slow) built for little kids. So of course I took advantage of the opportunity to get on one and ride it around crowds of Koreans, waving at them while they all stared, pointed, and laughed or just looked confused. It made me laugh pretty hard that I'd pass by them on this beat up, one-eyed donkey thing at half a mile per hour getting these looks. I think I got the best ab workout I've had for a while just watching them.

I've also been out with my Korean friends a lot, all of whom I met at my gym or who were friends of people I met at the gym. We usually go out to a restaurant or a bar or to play basketball. It's a lot of fun talking to them about everything and playing basketball with them. Another funny thing is how they play basketball. It's the opposite of american b-ball where if you get the open shot, you take it. You basically pass in circles until somebody has the opportunity to shoot a lay-up. And nobody ever shoots from deep, JUST layups or short jump shots. Pretty funny to watch/play.

But maybe the FUNNIEST thing (pretty close to tied with the korean ride) were the names of the students that my friend Madison teaches. I guess the kids got the opportunity to pick English names in previous classes and their names are absolutely hilarious. Madison has two fat kids in her classes and their names (which they picked!) are Cow and Hammy. The biggest of all of the kids, though, is named Boss. I laughed for a good ten minutes after hearing that. She says that Michael Jackson is the most popular name and has at least one Michael Jackson in every class. A few other good names include Milk, Money, Coin, and Tom Cruise. But to save the best for last....she also has an Obama and a Bush that ironically sit at the same table in one of her classes. I don't know how she can teach that class....I'd laugh so hard at the names that I don't think I could do it! Anyways, this is getting pretty long so I'm going to cut it off. Hope you enjoyed it!